This invention relates generally to earrings, and more particularly to an earring for releasably suspending any of a variety of charms.
The popularity of charm bracelets has been decreasing in the past few years, in part due to the bulk and inconvenience of the bracelets, but also due to the fear of theft or robbery of a charm bracelet having many valuable charms attached thereto. Another cause of the declining popularity of charm bracelets may be the increasing participation in the wage-earning workforce of women who otherwise may be inclined to wear them. Many women leave their charm bracelets at home when they go to work because they are embarrassed by the noise caused by charms clanging against one another. In addition, charm bracelets tend to snag or become caught in office furniture, machinery, etc. Whatever the cause or causes of the reduced popularity may be, many people find they have more charms than they either wish or are able to use.
One alternative use of these charms would be to hang them from earrings. Hung from earrings, the charms would not interfere with workplace or other activities, the charms being in a position where they would not tend to snag or become caught in furniture, machinery, etc. One charm suspended from an ear, in addition to being less of an object of theft, would be less of a loss should the wearer be robbed than would an entire charm bracelet. Moreover, it has become fashionable recently to wear a different earring on each ear, and it would be desirable to be able to do the same with charms suspended from earrings.
Vaughn, U.S. Pat. No. 2,797,561 discloses an "earring with hook for removably attaching a pendant ornament". The earring includes a hook and a retaining plate, the lower portion of which is biased by a spring toward the hook to retain an ornament on the hook. While pendants may be interchangeably attached to the Vaughn earring, the structure includes a number of generally delicate or fragile parts, such as a hook, retaining plate and spring. These parts project forwardly from the ear of the wearer and may inadvertently snag various objects or become entangled with the wearer's hair. In addition to being fragile, these parts detract from the appearance of the earring while increasing its cost of manufacture.
Ritter, U.S. Pat. No. 4,086,786 discloses a "two part piercing earring with an ornament on each part". The earring includes a link optionally provided with a slot at the side of the link so that a connecting link of a charm may be removed therefrom. No means for closing the slot is disclosed.